Desert Magnolia

Realizing the dream of having both of my offspring graduate from college and be on their way to gainful employment and, hopefully, rich lives, has been amazing. I am proud beyond words. I am relieved. I am absolutely certain they will go forth and conquer, and I can't wait to witness their journeys. Son has already begun to carve a path in the academic world, and has weekly stories to tell of the experiences he's having as he's done so. Firmly ensconced in the Middle East, he has managed to rise quickly in the ranks of his university, and appears to be loving his work, though it can be maddening at times. He's whittling down his student loans, and is now considering grad school at some point. Daughter will begin her job right after Labor Day. She'll be working in NYC in a highly respected cancer center, and will be playing a role managing care for her patients. She is excited, a little nervous, and mostly anxious to begin this next big phase of her life. Th...

After weeks and weeks of nonstop coming and going and friends and children and childrens' friends and nonstop comings and goings? It's quiet. Very, very quiet. The Boy is back in the Middle East. The Girl is back at school. And GG and I are here to guard the fort. Which is quiet, and now stays clean for days on end, and feels big and lonely and in need of color and energy and stuff that apparently GG and I don't bring to it. I guess this is really the calm after the storm, huh? Turns out I miss the storm. Even if it was unpredictable and a little harrowing at times.

Today is so the morning after. After a great weekend of fam, friends, working out, enjoying the backyard, getting back in touch with the elements, nesting, etc. There was swimming. There was sunning. There was laughing and BBQ's and more episodes of Breaking Bad. And now, it's back to the office for me, and beginning the countdown to Son coming home for a few days before he heads back across the big blue to the Middle East. And to Daughter heading back to Providence for soccer and then another school year. I'm trying to breathe deeply and embrace every silly moment we have. Because those moments, they are quickly evaporating and soon will be all gone for months and months. And months. It may be Tuesday, but honestly, it feels like a Monday with a little low barometric emotional pressure happening. Today it's July lunch with the Grannies day, though, which will certainly jolly me out of my baby funk and put things into perspective, right? Right? Sigh.

This weekend was Homecoming, and it was full of activities including soccer games, the dance, etc. Daughter played on Saturday, in a fierce game against a new high school. The battle was hard fought, but unfortunately lost. By one point. It was sad, but I was incredibly proud of the girls. They held their heads high and several were heard to say, 'Those girls are good. They wanted it, they earned it. Losing sucks, but if you have to, losing like that is ok.' Daughter was also voted Homecoming Queen. Seriously. How cool is that?? She didn't even tell us she was in the running. But she looks super cute adorned with her tiara...that's all I'm sayin'. Some of the best conversations occur between us spectators, on the sidelines, while the game is being played. There's the usual bitching about refs, in which I refuse to engage unless we're faced with a ref whose skills are endangering the girls' physical well being. There's the predictable 'soc...